Comics Review: "Star Wars: Rebel Heist" #1

Star Wars! I goddamn love it. I even like some of the Expanded Universe stuff that the moviemakers recently distanced themselves from. With Star Wars Day coming up real soon, Dark Horse released a brand new miniseries by Matt Kindt and Marco Castiello, titled “Rebel Heist”. I’m here to review issue #1, starring Han Solo.

“Rebel Heist” seems to take place sometime between Episodes IV and V, since Han Solo is well known for his part in destroying the Death Star, and he’s not, you know, a part of Jabba’s decoration. He’s also wearing his most stylish digs, the outfit he wore in Cloud City. While the story in this issue (it’s gonna be a four-part series) focuses almost entirely on everybody’s favorite smuggler, it’s not really Han’s story. No, our narrator and Solo’s partner is a rookie rebel soldier, sent to Corellia for his first mission. His name is Jan and he’s as green as can be.

The story opens with Jan arriving on Corellia, as per the instructions he received on a little paper sheet. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen paper used or mentioned in the Star Wars universe, and our hero even comments on how nobody other than the rebels even uses anything so low-tech. He gets to a bar and tries to act normal, but his cover is apparently blown, because Imperial agents approach him almost immediately. Thankfully, Han is there to shoot first and kill the agents.

Jan, who knew that he will partnered with another rebel soldier, is all star-struck when he finds out it’s none other than Han. As they run from the bar, he keeps thinking what a confident man Han is, and how he hides his tactical genius under the guise of “just being lucky”. It’s pretty embarrassing, but it’s meant to be that way – this guy is completely green. He even wore the jungle camo rebel outfit to a mission in a city, so he’s LITERALLY green.

Jan, ready for the mission.

Han (“Han and Jan…”) even makes a few pretty funny comments on the recruit’s visible excitement, and it’s all very much in character for Solo.

While Solo keeps Jan in the dark about their plan, it’s pretty obvious for the reader: they are purposely baiting the empire’s forces, in order to get captured. While Han insists Jan trusts him, and that they’re all going to be okay, this is all a bit much for the Rebel Alliance’s latest addition. Jan starts thinking Solo is reckless because he wants to die or something, so he ends up effectively selling Han out to Stormtroopers just as the smuggler is ready to begin the second phase of the plan.

Calm yourself, Jan...

…Or were Jan’s actions part of the plan, too? What really is the whole plan here? I don’t know, but “Rebel Heist” started well enough to get my interest, and I’m looking forward to reading the next parts!

Kindt has a great grasp on Han Solo, and the choice to tell the story from a new character’s perspective is a good one – I think the main characters from the original trilogy are so iconic that having their actions narrated by somebody else just works better. It also works really well here as a storytelling device, since Jan (like the reader) is the protagonist that doesn’t know what the plan, or the heist, is really about yet. The dialogues are good, the SW universe looks just like the one we know from the movies, and the plot moves fast. I’m not sure if I read a Kindt Star Wars comic in the past, but the man certainly is capable.

Han being Han.

Castiello’s art is clean and works well with the story. Most importantly, the characters we already know are not off-model, and the world of the story feels familiar. This may not sound like much, but I think these are really important parts of doing a good Star Wars comics. If you accept it as “right, this is the Star Wars I know” right away, then the artist is doing a great job.

I have to say that reading this suddenly made me feel like I’m going to miss Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics when the franchise officially goes to Marvel. Sure, it’s possible Marvel will do them good (I’m pretty skeptical about anything recent from Marvel, though…), but Dark Horse already does them good. Well, not all the time (in fact, there are plenty of Star Wars comics I have no interest in, but that’s mostly due to the fact I’m only interested in the Original Trilogy times/characters), but they DO have SW comics that are really fun reads. Plus, *nobody* knocks it out of the park every single time. Enjoy them while you have them.

This series started out well, and chances are it’s going to keep being good, so I will definitely pick up issue #2. Fans of Star Wars, and the original trilogy in particular, should find something worth reading here. Pick it up!

Did you check out "Rebel Heist" #1? Are you gonna celebrate Star Wars Day? Let us know in the comments!